New veteran's advisory board aims to make Lubbock most veteran-friendly city

Advisory board meets Thursday

At its second meeting, the city’s newly formed Veterans Advisory Committee solidified its mission statement.

With a goal of making Lubbock the state’s most veteran-friendly city, Chairman Dave Lewis said the group’s mission is twofold.

“The mission of the Veteran’s Advisory Committee is to assess current veteran programs and services, identify existing gaps and specific unfulfilled needs, particularly during times of transition, and prioritize and make recommendations to the City Council on various aspects of the Lubbock veteran population,” he said, “to improve the quality of life for all Lubbock citizens, the committee is dedicated to recognizing the contributions of our veterans and to the overall improvement of the city by leveraging and incorporating veterans’ skills, training and education.

“The committee will identify opportunities to make our community safer, healthier and more productive as a result of improved awareness and interaction with the Lubbock veteran constituency.”

The committee was created in response to former Councilman Todd Klein’s call to the council to establish a board dedicated to veteran’s affairs.

The councilman previously told A-J Media he’s met frequently with military veterans in the community to talk about what more could be done to help returning vets.

One thing he said he’d like to examine is whether city hiring practices could be made to emulate private-sector employers’ processes to bring veterans into the workforce after they separate from active duty.